Alone [Book 3 of the Life Hearts Trilogy, previously called Lost Hearts]

The Downside-Up - Blue's POV

I was in a room with no windows and no memory of how I had gotten there.

The room was quite small, just big enough for me to pace in. But that was all I needed.

Even as a ghost, I couldn't pass through the walls. I was panicking, not because I was trapped, but because I was trapped in a tiny room that looked way too much like the Team B.E.S.T. secret base. Claustrophobia was kicking in.

What had Last Life done to me? I used to be fine underground. Now I couldn't go caving to save my life.

I blamed Etho.

Grian had said that he was pretty sure the Watchers had taken over my mind, just while they brought us to the third Reality. But I barely heard him. I was too busy sweating and breathing heavily.

He was probably the only thing keeping me sane. He talked to me nonstop, and wouldn't take no for an answer. He would keep pestering me with questions until I told him what he wanted to know. It was annoying, but it helped.

"Just don't think about it," Grian suggested. "We're not imprisoned by Watchers. I'm not a Watcher. The portal let us through and we're back home, pranking our friends and stuff..."

He sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

Then a thought occurred to me. What if I asked him questions?

Blue is big brain, I know.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" I blurted.

"Tell anyone what?" Grian asked.

"That you're the third Watcher."

Grian winced. "All the Evolutioners knew, but we came to an agreement not to tell anyone before we were separated in the Dream Void. I didn't tell people because it would make it easier for the Watchers to find me. But obviously, they did anyway. And in Last Life, by the time I knew it was them, I was just so used to keeping the secret that I still did."

"When all the spell memories were erased. That was you, not the Watchers."

Grian nodded. "I didn't think my powers still existed. I didn't know that being exiled would mean keeping them."

I looked down at my feet in silence, wondering what it was like to have power you didn't want taken away, only to realize that it was still there.

But what if the only way to get out of here was for him to use them?

I hadn't even thought about escape yet. I was panicking too much. But now that I had calmed down, I couldn't stop thinking about how we could get out of this tiny prison.

The door opened. And suddenly, the cell disappeared.

This time, I could remember a little: Walking out of the room, a tall hallway, trying to fight off the being in my head. I was really starting to hate this whole take over my mind to move me thing.

My free will returned in another room that was thankfully much larger than the last one. But this time, I was tired.

That meant I was no longer a ghost.

I didn't really understand why, but it was nice to be on solid ground again.

I realized how long I had gone without sleeping. Well, I didn't really know, because it was impossible to tell how much time was passing when I was being controlled by a Watcher.

That unsettled me, but the urge to sleep was stronger. I drifted off.

"Hey, Grian," a blurry face said. "You're looking a little grey. Has it really been that long?" Then the face's features sharpened into a grinning boy with dark brown hair and golden-brown skin.